FORMER DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TRANSPORTATION OFFICIAL AND A NEW YORK TRAFFIC ENGINEERING COMPANY CHARGED WITH SUBVERTING THE COMPETITIVE PROCESS

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A former official from the District of Columbia’s
Department of Transportation (DC DOT) and a New York-based traffic engineering
firm were charged separately today in connection with subverting the
competitive process for federally-funded contracts let by the District of
Columbia Department of Transportation (DC DOT), the Department of Justice
announced.

Wilhelm DerMinassian, the former Associate Director in charge of the DC DOT’s
Traffic Services Administration, and Dunn Engineering Associates P.C. were
charged separately in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in connection
with the seeking, paying, and receiving of a gratuity in exchange for future
favorable treatment of the company by DerMinassian in his administration and
oversight of the five-year $17.5 million federally-funded Integrated Traffic
Management System (ITMS) contract.

Additionally, DerMinassian was charged with one count of wire fraud in
connection with

a scheme to defraud the DC DOT and the District of Columbia and its citizens
of their right to DerMinassian’s honest services as a public official. During
the conspiracy, which took place from October 2001 through October 2002,
DerMinassian solicited and received approximately $20,000 in cash and other
items of value from an employee and an officer of another company in
connection with his administration and oversight of the $12.9 million
federally-funded Operational Support contract. Influenced by the receipt of
cash and other items of value, DerMinassian recommended and approved three
change orders, worth over $5.5 million, to the contract.

“Citizens have a right to expect that taxpayer-funded contracts will be
awarded based on honest competition and not payoffs,” said Scott D. Hammond,
the Antitrust Division’s Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal
Enforcement.

The DC DOT is a cabinet-level agency within the District of Columbia
government charged with ensuring the safe and efficient movement of people and
goods in and around the District. The Traffic Services Administration is the
branch of the DC DOT responsible for planning, operating and maintaining the
District’s traffic services infrastructure.

Seeking and accepting gratuities while serving as a public official, a
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 201(c)(1)(B), carries a maximum penalty of two years
incarceration, a criminal fine of $250,000, or both. In addition, a person
convicted under this statute may be ordered to make full restitution to his or
her victim for any losses incurred.

Giving a gratuity to a public official, a violation of 18 U.S.C. §
201(c)(1)(A), carries a maximum criminal fine of $500,000 for a corporation.
In addition, a corporation convicted under this statute may be ordered to make
full restitution to its victim for any losses incurred.

Wire fraud, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, carries a maximum penalty of five
years incarceration, a criminal fine of $250,000, or both. In addition, a
person convicted under this statute may be ordered to make full restitution to
his or her victim for any losses incurred.

These cases are the first to arise out of an ongoing investigation being
conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section
with the assistance of the Washington Field Offices of the United States
Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General, and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.

Anyone with information concerning anticompetitive activities involving the
District of Columbia’s Department of Transportation should contact the
Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section at (202) 307-6694.